Suelli conserva il cuore pulsante del medioevo con una piazza centrale che ha visto una continuità d’uso tra il foro e la piazza principale destinata a mercato.

Qui, al centro del paese, si trovano la cattedrale di San Pietro Apostolo, il santuario di San Giorgio e la chiesa del Carmine.

La data esatta di costruzione della cattedrale non è documentata, ma si ipotizza che risalga alla prima metà del XIII secolo.

È stata ristrutturata nel XVI secolo con l’aggiunta di cappelle laterali e del campanile.

Rimangono pochi dettagli dell’originale impianto romanico.

La cattedrale era originariamente a tre navate, ora sostituite da un presbiterio tardogotico. Un’elegante facciata con tre portali caratterizzava l’edificio, mentre una monofora scolpita con un’aquila artigliante una lepre si apre sul fianco nord.

In the Middle Ages, many towns and villages saw the emergence of a continuity of use between the ancient Roman forum and the main square, intended as a market place and progressively enriched with buildings and public functions.

In many towns in Sardinia too, the square has the ancient function of a beating heart, such as the centre of Suelli.

In the Middle Ages, the ‘villa’ of Suellis was part of the Giudicato of Cagliari and was included in the curatorìa of Trexenta.

According to the ‘Provinciale Romanum’, Suellis was a suffragan see of the archdiocese of Cagliari.

It is not by chance, therefore, that here, in the centre of the village, we find the parish church of San Pietro Apostolo, the sanctuary dedicated to San Giorgio and the small church of Carmine.

The main church communicates with the sanctuary through the sacristy and the lower cell of the bell tower.

We have no documentary sources that inform us about the date of construction of the cathedral of Suelli.

The first mention of the title dates back to 1121-29, when the bishop Pietro Pintori, with the endorsement of the judge of Cagliari Mariano Torchitorio II de Làcon-Gunale, made public the donations made by private individuals for this church.

From a formal analysis of the still existing structures – the work of Tuscan craftsmen active in Sardinia for the first time – it is possible to infer its rebuilding in the first half of the 13th century.

The building was then restructured in the 16th century, with the creation of side chapels and the bell tower.

Only a few parts of the exterior masonry are preserved from the original structure: the base of the façade, part of a row of portal arches, a jamb capital decorated with false leaves and stems and the outlines of the wall arches.

The floor plan of the Romanesque building presumably had a nave and two side aisles with a south-eastern apse, later replaced by a Late Gothic presbytery.

The façade was characterised by five mirrors and three portals.

A single lancet window, in the keystone of which a frontal eagle clawing a hare is carved, opens on the north side.

The lower cell of the square belfry is another persistence of the Romanesque building.

We leave Suelli, taking with us the strong sensation of having made an exciting journey into the past.

V. Angius, voce “Suelli”, in G. Casalis, Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli Stati di S.M. il Re di Sardegna, XX, Torino, G. Maspero, 1850, pp. 519-520;
G. Spano, “Antica chiesa di Suelli”, in Bullettino Archeologico Sardo, IX, 1863, pp. 8-12;
D. Scano, Storia dell’arte in Sardegna dal XI al XIV secolo, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 341-342;
R. Delogu, L’architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, 1953, pp. 169-170;
La Provincia di Cagliari. I Comuni, a cura di N. Sciannameo-F. Sardi, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1985 (II ed.), p. 282;
R. Serra, La Sardegna, collana “Italia romanica”, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 353-355;
R. Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo ‘300, collana “Storia dell’arte in Sardegna”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sch. 94;
R. Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 89.